A story you can't spoil

What your MFA (probably) won't tell you...

If you’re into video essays, I recommend Time is An Illusion by CJ The X on YT, discussing Story of Your Life, a short story by Ted Chiang, and its Hollywood movie adaptation, Arrival. 

In this enlightening video, CJ reminds us that surprise is a cheap thrill vs. creating enduringly powerful moments a reader wants to return to again and again. Moments you can’t ‘spoil’. 

Such moments are hard-won ‘realizations’ painstakingly built up throughout the story where the character eventually realizes something that changes them, and then so does the reader. In Story of Your Life/Arrival, Louise realizes time is an illusion. Other literary examples include the moment when Seth has to confront the totality of murdering her child in Beloved or when Zora returns to Eatonville after all that has happened and delivers that shattering ‘fishnet’ line. 

For each of these characters, the moment creates a new understanding of reality. Louise gets to live her life more meaningfully, Seth is on a path to exorcising her ghost, and Zora feels an understanding of what life is about. 

So while shock ‘n awe page-turners are still great, let’s also be mindful of moments you CANNOT spoil. They make for a story that can be read and discussed again and again. 

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